PunchBook

Grade: A-

For the second time in as many tries, the Raconteurs deliver an album that is nothing short of brilliant. Jack White brings his innovative style once again and makes that guitar cry and wail like only he can. Although this album is a little more polished up than what you’d expect to hear from The White Stripes, it showcases the artistic aptitude of Jack White and Brenden Benson quite nicely (that is the understatement of the year).

Consolers Of the Lonely is packed short guitar riffs, and hypnotizing beats that pull you in, chew on you for 14 songs, and leave you wondering what the fuck the milkman has to say for himself. No idea what that means? Give Carolina Drama a listen to find out exactly what I mean. Actually do yourself a favor and listen to it with your headphones on and eyes closed; the imagery these guys paint is too good to be background music in your cubicle. “The white milk dripped down with the blood,”….knocked the priest right down to his shoes.”

The piano solo tacked on to the back of You Don’t Understand Me starts off slow and delicate with intricate changes to the rhythm and transforms into red faced full fledged assault on the ivories. Like the rest of the album, it flat out rocks - but in a more refined way than we saw in Broken Boy Soldiers.

Whether it’s piano in You Don’t Understand Me or the horn and violin in The Switch and the Spur - The ‘Teurs push the envelop and throw the whole band room closet into your ear hole. To date, this is my favorite album of 2008 - not just because of my bias toward anything Jack White. The variety from track to track keeps you guessing and most importantly keeps you interested. Many people can argue that this “project” is a way for White and the gang to cash in….it does lack that raw feel and goofiness of a Stripes album. But these are not the Stripes. This group has got talent that needs to be polished and thrown into the mainstream because 97%* of mainstream music is shit, we need groups like this to make listening to the radio worth our time again.

My favorite lyric of this album, “And you know me too well. You didn’t break a bone, you broke into my prison cell.”

*Scientific fact